The Vampire Diaries season 5, episode 18, “Resident Evil,” aired last night and we’ve finally got our favorite Mystic Falls gang on our TVs. Check out our recap of the latest episode and let us know what you thought!

So Much Testosterone, So Little Brain Cells
-Episode starts with Elena writing in her diary when a page flies out and Stefan catches it. Except, they act like they don’t know each other.
-It was a dream. Of course.
-Enzo and Damon are playing pool, and Enzo is trying to understand the happenings between him and Elena.
-Back in a daydream situation, Elena and Stefan get back from their first date. Except in this dream, her parents are alive. Only Elena doesn’t realize she’s daydreaming.
-Caroline thinks she’s dreaming about Stefan because she broke up with Damon.
-Stefan calls, and he says he was almost run over in the street because he was having a vision of Elena.
-Meanwhile, Bonnie gets a visit from Grams while at the park.
-Grams heard about what happened with Bonnie, and she thinks that someone came back when the Travelers overpowered her.
-Now the Other Side is being all weird, and the witches are scared.
-Liv’s plan is to get rid of the travelers, but she doesn’t trust Tyler or Matt. So she wants them to stab themselves with the traveler knife.
-After they do, she tells them plan is to do the same thing to other people to make sure no one is a traveler.
-The Travelers have taken over towns by putting passengers inside the town folk, and Liv thinks they’re doing the same thing to Mystic Falls.
-A traveler took over Sheriff Forbes body!

Kol Returns! Again.
-Caroline calls Enzo to tell Damon about what’s going on with Stefan and Elena.
-Now that Tom is dead, Caroline thinks that’s why Stefan and Elena are having visions of each other.
-Bonnie visits Jeremy at Matt/Tyler’s house, and she needs his help. She tells him what Grams says, but they get interrupted.
-Liv is there, and Bonnie is all, “Are you kidding me?!”
-Bonnie wants Jeremy to tell him what’s going on, but he says he can’t, so she leaves.
-Matt then goes to check out why Sheriff Forbes isn’t answering her phone, and she stabs him in the neck.
-He shows up next to Bonnie and tells her to tell Jeremy the Sheriff is in trouble. He shows up on The Other Side, and instead of being the only one he can see someone else…
-He sees Kol! KOL IS BACK! Kind of.

Stabbed
-Matt wants to know why he can see Kol. Kol says that since someone tore his way out of there, the Other Side is unraveling now.
-Matt suddenly thinks of Vicki, and wants to see her.
-Caroline and Elena show up at Salvatore mansion, and things are awkward between Elena and Damon.
-Naturally, Caroline and Enzo are eavesdropping.
-Enzo tells Caroline about the girl he loved when he was held captive by Wes’ family. Even though she’d be like 70 now, he wants to see her.
-Elena explains to Damon she doesn’t know what the visions mean.
-Damon asks if fantasy Stefan and fantasy Elena are really happy, and he starts choking up.
-Luke then shows up at the mansion.
-Tyler visits Sheriff Forbes, and gets to stab her with the knife so the traveler leaves. But then someone else shows up.
-Luke explains that Markos has escaped, and he thinks the visions are the travelers’ magic and leading them to each other.

Vicki’s Final Goodbye
-Damon thinks that because of the visions that he and Elena are doomed.
-But Elena thinks that the universe doesn’t control anything, it’s not real.
-But she has another daydream of her and Stefan living the perfect life. This time it’s their anniversary and Elena found the engagement ring Stefan was hiding, she says yes.
-In the vision, Elena sees an address and she’s convinced Markos is there.
-Back on the Other Side, Matt tries to find Vicki but ends up right back where he was. Instead, Vicki finds him!
-But when she finds him, the Other side starts shaking and a storm comes, whisking Vicki away just like Katherine was. Not before she tells him she loves him.
-Damon and Enzo show up at the address Elena thinks Markos is at, and they find him.
-Markos explains he’s the reason Elena and Stefan are having visions of each other.

Doppelgängers: Re-imagined
-Markos says that Doppelgänger lore has been misinterpreted. The doppelgängers weren’t always meant to be together, but their blood was always meant to help the travelers because of a spell he cast 1500 years ago.
-Apparently the best way to get people to search for each other, is the promise for true love.
-Markos knows about Enzo’s love, Maggie, and tells him to stay at the house while Damon and Markos go out for a walk.
-2000 years ago Quetsiyah and Silas cast a spell for immortality, which caused a schism in the traveler community and witches.
-The witches tries to keep the travelers scattered to keep them from knowing how powerful they were. So they cast a spell that would prevent travelers from living together in numbers.
-But the doppelgänger blood can break that spell, and they found a loophole: If the travelers inhabit the bodies of others, they can get together.
-In another vision, Elena and Stefan have kids this time.
-Meanwhile, Markos and his travelers are casting a spell to prevent intercept and change the visions that they’re having. Now Stefan and Elena won’t be dreaming of each other.
-Stefan shows up at the mansion with Elena, and they both think it’s over.

Well, Crap.
-Stefan thinks that no matter how “perfect” their visions were, they had a life together that was real.
-They say that they will always love each other, and Stefan says that you can either be friends with someone or in love with them, not both.
-Matt is grieving over Vicki when Kol comes back and disrupts him.
-Kol doesn’t know where she went, but he’d love to know. That’s why he wants Matt back in his body to tell everyone. He says Matt needs to find a way to remember what’s happening.
-Bonnie and Jeremy are waiting for Matt to come back, and he actually remembers his time on the other side.
-Matt tells them what’s happening, and they have no idea what’s going on.
-Elena shows up in Damon’s bedroom, and she wants to say thank you.
-Damon doesn’t want to know what Elena saw, but she says he needs to know.
-She tells him about how it was the perfect life, but it wasn’t real.
-Elena still needs Damon in her life, but he doesn’t want to be her friend. He doesn’t want to see her, or look at her, or talk to her.
-Elena walks out.
-Caroline is with her mom when she wakes up, and Tyler is with Markos. He’s possessed! And he brought the traveler’s knife.
-Markos destroys the only knife they have left.